Feds investigate deputy in beating incident

SEATTLE, Wash. — The videotape of a King County sheriff’s deputy roughing up a 15-year-old girl in a holding cell has caught the attention of the Department of Justice, which “is definitely looking into the matter,” according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Harris, who heads the local office’s civil-rights division.

Harris said the U.S. Attorney’s Office had learned of the incident last month when the Sheriff’s Office announces criminal charges had been filed against the deputy. He said the office “just didn’t have enough to go on” at that point, but the release Friday of the video from a holding cell changed that.

“It is on our radar now,” Harris said. “That was the first time we’d seen in on Friday, and we’ve had a couple of days to talk about it. We are looking, yes.”